Treatment of textile materials



Patented Sept. 18, 1945 TREATMENT OF TEXTILE MATERIALS George W. Seymour and Dustin Y. Miller, Cum berland, Md., assignors to Celanese Corporation oi America, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Application July 15, 1942, Serial No. 451,012

6 Claims.

' This invention relates to the treatment of textile materials such as yarns, threads, filaments and the like and relates more particularly to the treatment of textile materials of regenerated cellulose which have been prepared by the saponification of stretched yarns having a basis of an sized yarn is required;

Another object of our invention is to improve the weaving efliclency of yarns and particularly of regenerated cellulose yarns-prepared by the saponiflcation of stretched yarns having a basis of an organic ester of cellulose.

Yet another object of our invention is the sizing of yarns, threads, filaments and the like, particularly those of regenerated cellulose prepared by saponifying stretched yarns having a basis of an organic ester of cellulose from said materials.

Other objects of our invention will appear from the following detailed description.

Various sizing compounds and/or compositions have been employed for treating textile materials such as yarns, threads, filaments and the like, to render them more amenable to various textile processing operations. The use of many of these compounds or compositions is, however, not without certain disadvantages. Frequently, many of the sizing compounds or compositions may develop a fair amount of free acidity on ageing. Others suffer from the disadvantage that they are subiect to oxidative or hydrolytic changes which lead to polymerization reactions. The latter reactions cause the size to become gummy or tacky and this creates a certain amount of drag or pull on the yarns as they passthrough guides, etc. These disadvantages, of course, seriously impair the efliciency with which the various textile processing operations employing such sized yarns may be carried out. These as well as other disadvantages have been encountered in the sizing of yarn and especially high tenacity regenerated cellulose yarns prepared by the saponification of stretched yarns having a basis of an organic ester of cellulose. Many sizes and sizing compositions have been employed in attempts to improve the processing eiiiciency of said high tenacity regenerated cellulose yarns with but in dillerent success, and substantial difliculties have been encountered in weaving such yarns into fabrics of acceptable quality.

We have now discovered that the difiiculties heretofore encountered in the processing of said regenerated cellulose yarns may be overcome by employing an aqueous sizing composition comprising polymerized methacrylic acid and derivatives thereof, polymerized ethylene oxide, a wetting or penetrating agent and water. By sizing yarns, threads, filaments and the like of said regenerated cellulose with our novel composition, the sized materialsmay then be woven into fabrics with a minimum of friction and, as a result, substantially no fraying, chafing or other degradation of the textile material is encountered. Derivatives of polymerized methacrylic acid which may be employed in practicing our invention are salts thereof, such as, for example the sodium salt of polymerized methacrylic acid, interpolymers of methacrylic acid with acrylic or polyacrylic acid, and interpolymers of methacrylic acid with a small proportion, say, 10% or less, of styrene, vinyl acetate, or methyl methacrylate.

Our novel sizing composition may be applied conveniently by any suitable method. The yarn or thread in the form of hanks may be dipped into an aqueous solution of the composition of a suitable concentration and the hanks may then be dried in any convenient manner, viz., in a drying cabinet or in the open air. The size may also be applied by the continuous winding method wherein the yarns, in transit from one package to another, are caused to travel through a bath of the size or over rollers or surfaces of a furnishing device supplied therewith. After sizing, the running yarns may be air-dried or they may also be passed through a chamber where they may be dried by heated air. The yarns may also be sized while in the form of a warp by passing the warp of yarns over a slasher and the excess moisture removed by passing the warp over a heated drum to cause the water to evaporate and to render the size non-tacky before the warp is wound on the beam. One of the more convenient methods of applying the size composition to the yarn is by means of a furnishing device during a down-twisting operation. In this method 'the balloon action during twisting and the rapid spinning of the take-up bobbins afiord ample drying.

The composition of our novel aqueous size may comprise from 1 to 10% by weight of polymerized methacrylic acid and derivatives thereof, from 0.2 to by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide and from .01 to 1.0% by weight of a wetting and penetrating agent, such as, for example, the sodium or amine salt of a lauryl sulfate, or other higher primary or secondary alkyl sulfate, the diamyl, dihexyl, dibutyl or other dialkyl esters of sodium suliosuccinic acid, sodium alkyl aryl sulfonates, or wetting agents such as the sodium sulfo-ethyl amide of oleic acid, and the like, with the remainder being water. By suitably adjusting the concentration of the sizing composition in the aqueous solution or the manner in which it is applied, varying amounts of size may be deposited on the yarns. The amount of the size deposited on the yarns may vary depending upon the denier of the yarn and the particular weave in which it is to be woven. We have found that from 0.5 to 5.0% on the weight of the yarns is suitable. When weaving a tw'ill of fine denier yarns the most advantageous results are obtained if the concentration of the size in the aqueous solution is such that from 2.5 to 3.5% of the size is deposited on the warp prior to weaving.

In order further to illustrate our invention but without being limited thereto, the following example is given:

Example A sizing composition adapted to be applied to a running yarn during a down-twisting operation is made up as follows:

Parts by weight Polymerized methacrylic acid 2.0 Polymerized ethylene oxide 0.6

Tergitol 4T (amine salt of higher secondary alkyl sulfate) 0.1 Water 97.3

This sizing composition is applied by means of a suitable furnishing device to a regenerated cellulose yarn, of 60 denier having 3 turns per inch and 136 filaments, prepared by the saponification of a stretched yarn having a basis of cellulose acetate. The quantity of the sizing composition placed on the yarn is adjusted so that about 2 to 3% by weight of the composition remains after evaporation of the water. After sizing, the yarns are spooled without difflculty. When the sized yarn is employed as a warp and woven with an unsized filling, the resulting fabric is unusually free of defects, and fraying or chafing of the extremely fine filaments is entirely avoided.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is merely given by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Process for preparing yarns amenable to textile operations, which comprises applying to a yarn of regenerated cellulose, prepared by saponification of stretched yarns having a basis of an organic ester of cellulose, a composition comprising 0.2 to 5.0% by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide, from 0.1 to 1.0% by weight of a wetting or penetrating agent, and from 1 to by weight of a substance selected from the group consisting of (l) polymerized methacrylic acid, (2) salts of polymerized methacrylic acid, (3) interpolymers of methacrylic acid with an acrylic acid selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid and polyacrylic acids and (4) interpolymers of methacrylic acid with at most 10% of a compound selected from the group consisting of styrene, vinyl acetate and methyl methacrylate.

2. Process for preparing yarns amenable to textile operations, which comprises applying to a yarn of regenerated cellulose, prepared by saponification of stretched yarns having a basis of cellulose acetate, a composition comprising 0.6% by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide, 0.10% by weight of an amine salt of a higher secondary alkyl sulphate and 2% by weight of polymerized methacrylic acid.

3. An aqueous composition for use in sizing yarns of regenerated cellulose prepared by the saponification of stretched yarns having a basis of an organic ester of cellulose, said composition comprising 0.2 to 5.0% by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide, from 0.1 to 1.0% by weight of a wetting or penetrating agent, and from 1 to 10% by weight of a substance selected from the group consisting of (1) polymerized methacrylic acid, (2) salts of polymerized methacrylic acid, (3) interpolymers of methacrylic acid with an acrylic acid selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid and polyacrylic acids and (4) interpolymers of methacrylic acid with at most 10% of a compound selected from the group consisting of styrene, vinyl acetate and methyl methacrylate, the remainder of said composition being water.

4. An aqueous composition for use in sizing yarns of regenerated cellulose, prepared by the saponification of stretched yarns having a basis of an organic ester of cellulose, said composition comprising 0.6% by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide, 0.10% by weight of an amine salt of a higher secondary alkyl sulfate, and 2% by weight polymerized methacrylic acid, the remainder of said composition being water.

5. Yarn of regenerated cellulose, prepared by the saponification of stretched yarn having a basis of organic ester of cellulose, sized with a composition comprising 0.2 to 5.0% by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide, from 0.1 to 1.0% by weight of a wetting or penetrating agent and from 1 to 10% by weight of a substance selected from the group consisting of (1) polymerized methacrylic acid, (2) salts of polymerized methacrylic acid, (3) interpolymers of methacrylic acid with an acrylic acid selected from the group consisting of acrylic acid and polyacrylic acids and (4) interpolymers of methacrylic acid with at most 10% of a compound selected from the group consisting of styrene, vinyl acetate and methyl methacrylate.

6. Yarn of regenerated cellulose prepared by the saponification of stretched yarn having a basis of cellulose acetate sized with a composition comprising 0.6% by weight of polymerized ethylene oxide, 0.10% by weight of an amine salt of a higher secondary alkyl sulphate and 2% 'by weight of polymerized methacrylic acid.

GEORGE W. SEYMOUR. DUSTIN Y. MILLER. 

